How to prepare to crack any competitive exam in India like UPSC? ( PART – 1 )

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After attempting UPSC MAINS for 5 times & failing at it, I understood a few things which I couldn’t figure out during the preparation phase. Let me share what I learnt after I left UPSC, which can give you a perspective on your preparation.

I was always worried about What to study for the UPSC?

Do you think it is very important? That too for an exam like UPSC where there is no end to the content of the preparation. Can you guess what happens when we get lost in the information tsunami when we keep worrying about what to study? I went crazy with tons of information getting into my brain, which does not have an outlet & turns in too many thoughts with too little action, simply called as stress. Yes, I was very tensed & stressful. It can simply be called as too much Theory & less practice.

Once you know your Why, we can almost survive any How & what becomes less relevant – Victor Frankl.

During my preparation, I came across this quote but understood it in the past few years after I left my preparation. The question of Why is to be dealt with by oneself, but it is the How where the teachers & mentors a guide & books can give the what part. Isn’t so?

Did you come across 80/20 principle called The pareto’s principle & the pomodoros technique ?These two principles can boost your preparation when you know How to apply them.

Let us discuss about them now.

What is Pareto’s principle & How to apply it ?

To simplify we try to identify the 20% of the topics which yield majority of the marks and put 80% of the time during reading, revisiting & writing on these topics.It saves time, making preparation more effective.

Thus the Pareto’s principles simplifies What part of preparation.

What is Pomodoro Technique ?

The Pomodoro Technique is about How to study effectively by taking regular breaks on hourly, daily, weekly & monthly basis.The general Pomodoro Technique is applied on hourly basis but we can scale it as Grand Pomodoro to apply on monthly ,quarterly & yearly basis.It can be applied not only for exam preparation but also across any aspect of daily life.

Now comes the importance of Parkinson’s law ?

We apply all these one on the other :

Once we decide what to study using Pareto’s principle & How to study using Pomodoro Technique, It is important to decide the timeline to finish each topic & the entire syllabus.Unless we keep tracking it we fall behind the deadlines.This is basis for Parkinson’s law.

Here at The Habit centre We can help you to build these habits using various principles from Behavioural Psychology.

Do you want to try ?

Come lets build some habits for Effective exam preparation & stay ahead of he competition.

SOURCES :

1.THE 80/20 PRINCIPLE – RICHARD KOCH

2.POMODORO TECHNIQUE- FRANCISCO CIRILLO

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